Redu Space Services Wins EDRS Mission Contract from Astrium

[Satellite TODAY 02-06-12] Redu Space Services (RSS), a joint venture of SES and QinetiQ Space, has been awarded a contract by Astrium for the design, development, testing and delivery of the Mission Operation Center (MOC) as part of the European Data Relay System (EDRS) program, Redu announced Feb. 3.

EDRS aims to provide bi-directional data transmission between LEO satellites and the ground in near real-time and with broadband quality. Acting as prime contractor, Astrium will build and operate the system infrastructure and provide the data transmission services. The company also holds the exclusive rights to sell EDRS services to customers worldwide.

The contract agreement with RSS includes hosting and maintenance of a backup telemetry, tracking and command and EDRS data reception antenna system, as well as an upgrade and expansion of the capabilities on the antenna system to facilitate in-orbit testing of the EDRS payloads.

“The heritage of RSS at the ESA station in Redu, the support of the shareholders QinetiQ Space and SES, and our intense cooperation in the proposal and negotiation phase are certainly some of the reasons why Astrium is putting its trust in us and awarded us this contract,” RSS General Manager Jos Giannandrea said in a statement.